Myth
From RationalWiki
A myth is a fabricated story.
In academic contexts, a "myth" is a story (true or false) that tells about a culture's religion, history, values, morals, and world views. Often, myths in this context begin as true stories, though they can be exaggerated to a point where they are totally unrecognizable. An example of this is the Jesus myth.
In popular contexts, a "myth" is a falsehood. In these contexts, it is generally more than just a lie, but rather a carrier of one group's views that has been "disproven", such as the "myth of weapons of mass destruction", or Ann Coulter's The Myth of McCarthyism.
People belonging to one religion frequently misunderstand the first use of "myth" as an insult to their religion because of the second, more common, use of myth.
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